Hand operated punching/embossing tools generally include a pressing mechanism that is used to compress a sheet of material between a die/punch set to deform or cut out a section of the sheet material into a desired pattern. The sheet material is generally held between a pair of compression members, each holding a punch or a die, while the compression members are forced together with the pressing mechanism. Although this process is satisfactory, it is often difficult to position the die and punch in the desired location, with respect to a section of sheet material such as paper, with the pattern to be punched or embossed oriented in the desired direction with respect to the sheet material. It would be desirable, therefore, to have a hand operated punching/embossing tool that had included a punch/die set that could be oriented in a variety of user selectable directions with respect to the hand operated punching/embossing tool. In addition, it would also be desirable to have a hand operated punching/embossing tool that included a gauge mechanism for allowing a user to gauge the position of the pattern to be embossed or punched out with respect to an edge of the sheet material. This would allow a user punching or embossing a number of sheets to place the punched or embossed pattern in a uniform position on each sheet.